of a Letter sent the King August 14. 1686. found in Bishop Tirrel's but imperfect p. 303 Lord Clarendon's Speech in Council on his leaving the Government of Ireland p. 310 A General Abstract of the Gross Produce of his Majesties Revenue in Ireland in the three first years of the Management beginning at Christmas 1682. and ended Christmas 1685. p. 312 Sheriffs for the year 1687. p. 313 Lord Lieutenants and Debuty Lieutenants of Counties p. 324 Privy Councellors appointed by Letters from King James dated February 28. 1684. and such as were sworn since by particular Letters p. 333 The Civil List of Officers and the times of their entring on their Offices p. 334 An account of the General and Field Officers of King James's Army out of the Muster Rolls p. 341 A Copy of the Letter dispersed about the Massacre said to be designed on December 9. 1688. p. 345 Lord Mountjoy's Circular Letter on his going to France p. 346 Judge Keating's Letter to Sir John Temple December 29. 1688. p. 347 Proposals humbly offered to the Earl of Tyrconnell Lord Deputy by the Bishop Meath about the intended search for Arms p. 353 An account of the Conditions made in the Field between the High Sheriff of Gallway and the Prisoners afterwards condemned p. 356 A Copy of a Letter from Bishop Maloony to Bishop Tyrrell the Original found amongst Bishop Tyrrell's Papers March 8. 1689. p. 360 Presentment of the Grand Jury of Tipperary against Protestants p. 365 A List of all the Men of Note that came with King James out of France or that followed him after so far as could be Collected p. 366 A List of the Lords that sate in the pretended Parliament at Dublin held May 7. 1689. p. 369 The names of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses returned to the Parliament beginning May 7. 1689. p. 370 An Address to King James in behalf of Purchasers under the Act of Settlement by Judg Keating p. 377 The Lord Bishop of Meath's Speech in Parliament June 4. 1689. p. 389 Copies of the Orders for giving Possessions p. 388 Albaville's Instructions to the Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer p. 392 A Petition of the Minister of Wexford for his Church and the Order thereupon p. 395 Mr. Prowd Minister of Trim his account of the remarkable Accident that happened upon Plundering the Church of Trim p. 397 General Rosen's Order to bring the Protestants before Derry p. 399 Advertisement as it was published by Mr. Yalden in his weakly Abhorrence concerning Dr. King and Dr. Foy p. 404 Collonel Lutterell's Order for numbering Protestants p. 406 Collonel Lutterell's Order forbidding above five Protestants to meet any where p. 407 THE STATE OF THE Protestants of Ireland Under the late King James's Government IN WHICH Their Carriage towards him is justified and the absolute Necessity of their endeavouring to be freed from his Government and of submitting to their present Majesties is demonstrated INTRODUCTION Containing an Explication of the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and stating the true Notion and Latitude of it 1. IT is granted by some of the highest assertors of Passive Obedience that if a King design to root out a people or destroy one main part of his Subjects in favour of another whom he loves better that they may prevent it even by opposing him with force and that he is to be judged in such a case to have Abdicated the Government of those whom he designs to destroy contrary to Justice and the Laws This is Grotius's Opinion in his Book De jure Belli Pacis lib. 1. cap. 4. § 11. where citing Barclay he says If a King be carried with a malitious design to the destruction of a whole Nation he loses his Kingdom which I grant since a will to Govern and to Destroy cannot consist together therefore he who professes himself an Enemy to a whole People doth in that very act Abdicate his Kingdom But it seems hardly possible that this should enter into the heart of a King who is not mad if he govern only one people but if he govern many it may happen that in favour of one people he may desire the other were destroyed Doctor Hammond asserts Passive Obedience as high as any yet he approves this passage of Grotius and of Barclay in his vindication of Christ's reprehending S. Peter from the exceptions of Mr. Marshall p. 327. of his first Volume Grotius saith he mentions some cases wherein a King may be resisted As in case a King shall Abdicate his Kingdom and manifestly relinquish his Power then he turns private man and may be dealt with as any other such And some other the like 2. And it is observable that generally in all Books and Sermons concerning Obedience to Governors where this case is put suppose a King endeavour to destroy his people there are only two answers given to it one is that his Officers and Ministers ought not to obey him if they do the Law will punish them The other is that this case ought not to be put that we ought not to suppose that any King will designedly endeavour to destroy his people nay the Author of Jovian will not allow us to suppose that any King will attempt in England to Govern altogether by Arbitrary Power and the Sword For says he Chap. 12. p. 272. To suppose this is plainly to suppose the utmost impossibility and p. 273. If a King should shut up the Courts obstruct or pervert Justice he allows that all his good Subjects and all the bad too that tendered their own safety would desert him and Chap. 6. p. 152. He says he should be tempted to pray for the destruction of such a Prince as the only means of delivering the Church Falkner in his Christian Loyalty B. 2. Chap. 5. N. 19 20 tells us But if ever any such strange case as is supposed should really happen I confess it would have its great difficulties He brings in Grotius De jure Belli Pacis lib. 1. cap. 4. N. 7. And Bishop Bilsons Christian Subjection Part 3. p. 519. edit 1585. as allowing it and seems to allow their judgment in the case but then tells us that the case above-mentioned ought not at all to be supposed or taken into consideration All which plainly grants that if a King do in earnest design the destruction of his Subjects and get Ministers and Officers to concur with him in it who are ready to execute his wicked intentions and against whom the Law yields no Protection that in such a case the Subjects may desert their Prince decline his Government and Service and seek Protection where they can find it 3. And indeed whoever considers the Discourses that have been written concerning Non-Resistance will find that the reasons given for it either from the nature of the Thing or Scripture reach only tolerable evils and prove that a man ought to be patient under pressures laid on him by his Governor when the mischief is not
Possession and Letters Patents on Record are all blown off at once and nothing left sure or firm in the Kingdom For my part I cannot understand that any Man will Purchase an Acre of Land hereafter when former Purchasers that thought themselves secure are so much discouraged Improvements must perish likewise for by the Petitions that have been preferred to this House your Lordships may perceive that some Proprietors have but small Estates 20 40 or 100 Acres on which Sumptuous Houses and large Gardens and Orchards have been erected and the Income of their Estates is not able to repair the Glass Windows or defray the Wages of the Gardiner And as for Husbandry what between the Old Proprietor that is to be restor'd and cannot Manure the Ground till he is possessed of it and the present Possessor that knows not how long his Term will hold and therefore will be at no Charges upon a Term that depends on the Will of the Commissioners We shall have the Plow neglected and must feed on one another instead of Corn. My Lords This is not all the inconvenience in it but it is likewise to the prejudice of the People in the Kingdom both Protestants and Catholicks The Protestants are already ruin'd by the Rapparees and if their Estates are taken from them I know nothing wanting to make them compleatly miserable The rich Catholicks have as yet escap'd the Depredations of their Neighbours but they will be almost as miserable as the Protestants when their Estates and Improvements are taken from them My Lords This Bill doth likewise destroy the Publick Faith and Credit of the Nation it destroys the Credit of England by Repealing the Act Pass'd there for the Satisfaction of Adventurers it destroys the Publick Faith of Ireland by Repealing the Acts of Settlement and Explanation it violates the Faith of his late Majesty which hath been pass'd to his Subjects in his Gracious Declaration for the Settlement of this Kingdom and in his Letters Patents pursuant to it It subverts the Credit of his present Majesty in his Letters Patents that he hath Pass'd since his coming to the Crown on the Commission of Grace for he has receiv'd the Composition money and if these Grants must be vacated I cannot forbear to speak it plainly that the Subject is deluded it commits a Rape upon the Common Law by making all Fines and Recoveries useless and ineffectual and it invades the Property of every private Subject by destroying all Settlements on valuable Considerations My Lords This Bill is Inconvenient in point of Time Is it now a time for men to seek for Vineyards and Olive yards when a Civil War is rageing in the Nation and we are under Apprehensions I will not say fears for it is below Men of Courage to be afraid of Invasions from abroad is it not better to wait for more peaceable times and Postpone our own Concerns to the Concerns of his Majesty and the publick Peace of the Nation To do otherwise is to divide the Spoyl before we get it to dispose of the Skin before we catch the Beast We cannot in this case set a better President before Us than the Case of the Israelites in the Book of Joshua they had the Land of Canaan given them by God but yet Joshua did not go about to make a Distribution of it to the Tribes till they had subdued their Enemies and the Lord had given them peace Nay My Lords I am confident that it will prejudice His Majesties Service because every Mans eye and heart will be more on his own Concerns than His Majesties Business it is possible that their affections may be more set upon the gaining of their Estates than the Fighting for the King and then all their Endeavours will be drowned in the Consideration of their own profit Moses was Jealous of this when the Two Tribes and an half desired to have their Possessions on this side Jordan before the Land was intirely subdued and there may be the same motives to the like suspitions now My Lords Either there was a REBELLION in this Kingdom or there was not If there was none then we have been very unjust all this while in â—â—eping so many Innocents out of their Estates And God forbid that I should open my Mouth in the Defence of so gross an Injustice but then what shall we say to His Majesties Royal Fathers Declaration in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who there owns that there was a Rebellion and in pursuance of that Opinion passed an Act to secure such as should adventure Money for the suppressing of it Nay What shall we say to the Two Bills that have been brought into this House the one by an Honourable Lord which owns it fully the latter from the Commoners which owns a Rebellion but extenuates it I take it then for granted that there was a Rebellion and if so it was either a total or a partial one If it was a general one then all were guilty of it and none can pretend to be restored to his Estate farther than the King in his Mercy shall think fit to grant it him If it was a partial one then some Discrimination ought to be made between the Innocent and the Guilty The Innocent should be restored and the Guilty excluded from their Estates but here is a Bill that makes no distinction between them but Innocent and Nocent are all to fare alike The one is to be put in as good a Condition as the other and can your Lordships imagine that it is reasonable to do this when we all know that there has been a Court of Claims erected for the Tryal of Innocents that several have put themselves upon the Proof of their Innocence and after a full Hearing of all that they could offer for themselves have been adjudged Nocent My Lords I have Ventur'd Candidly and Impartially to lay my Thoughts before you and I have no other design in it than honestly to acquit my Conscience towards my KING and Country If my Freedom hath given your Lordships any Offence I do here submissively beg your Pardon for it but it is the Concern of the Nation in general that hath made me so warm in this Affair I have but one thing more to add That God would so direct and instruct your hearts that you may pitch upon those Courses that may be for the Honour of the King and the Benefit of the Kingdom Objections against the Particulars of the Bill made by the Lord Bishop of Meath I. No Penalty on such as shall enter without Injunctions II. No Consideration for Improvements III. No Saving for Remainders IV. No Time given to Tenants and Possessors to Remove their Stock and Corn. V. No Provision for Protestant Widows VI. It allows only Reprisals for Original Purchase-Money which is hard to make out and is an Injury to the Second or Third Purchaser No. 24. Copies of the ORDERS for giving Possessions c. Com. Kildare
first sitting of the said Commissioners and procure the Adjucation of them or any three or more of them thereupon within One hundred and twenty Days after the said first sitting of the said Commissioners And whereas by one or more Office or Offices in the Time of the Earl of Strafford's Government in this Kingdom in the Reign of King Charles the First of ever blessed Memory All or a great part of the Lands Tenements and Hereditaments in the Province of Conaught and Counties of Clare Limerick and Tipperary were vested in his Majesty And by the Acts of Settlement and Explanation the said Office and Offices are declared to be Null and Void since which time the said Acts have been by the said Act of Repeal repealed and thereby some Prejudice might arise or accrue to the Proprietors concerned in them Lands if not prevented Be it therefore Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the said Office and Offices and every of them commonly called the Grand Office and the Title thereby found or endeavoured to be made out or set up from the time of the finding or taking thereof was and is hereby declared to be Null and Void to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever Provided that nothing therein contained shall any way extend or be construed to extend to charge any Person or Persons who hath bona Fide paid any Rents or Arrears of Rent that have been due and payable out of any Lands hereby vested in your Majesty or to charge any Steward or Receiver that received any such Rents or Arrears of Rents if he bona Fide paid the same but that he and they shall be hereby discharged for so much as he or they so bona Fide paid against your Majesty your Heirs and Successors Provided always and it is hereby Enacted That every Person not being a forfeiting Person within the true intent and meaning of the said former Act or of this present Act and who before the seventh Day of May One thousand six hundred eighty nine had any Statute Staple or Recognizance for paiment of Money or any Mortgage Rent-Charge Portion Trust or other Incumbrance either in Law or Equity or any Judgment before the Two and twentieth Day of May One thousand six hundred eighty nine for paiment of Money which might charge any of the Estates Lands Tenements or Hereditaments so as aforesaid forfeited unto and vested in your Majesty shall and may have the benefit of the said Statutes Staples Judgments Recognizances Mortgages Rent-Charge Portions Trust and other Incumbrances out of the Estate or Estates which should be liable thereunto in case the said former Act or this present Act had never been made Provided always that the Person and Persons who had such Statutes Staples Judgments Recognizances or other Trusts or Incumberances do claim the same before the Commissioners for the Execution of the said former Act within two months after the first sitting of the said Commissioners and procure their Adjucation thereof within such reasonable Time as the said Commissioners shall appoint for determining the same And to the end that such Person and Persons as shall have any of the said Lands Tenements or Hereditaments granted unto him as aforesaid may know the clear Value of the said Lands Tenements and Hereditaments so to be granted unto him above all Incumbrances and may injoy the same against all Statute-Staples Judgments Recognizances Mortgages Rent-Charges and other Incumbrances not claimed-and adjudged as aforesaid Be it therefore further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all such Lands Tenements and Hereditaments as shall be forfeited unto and vested in your Majesty and granted by Letters Pattents pursuant to the said former Act or this present Act shall be and are hereby freed acquitted and discharged of and from all Estates Charges and Incumbrances whatsoever other than what shall be claimed and adjudged as aforesaid And whereas by one private Act of Parliament intituled An Act for securing of several Lands Tenements and Hereditaments to George Duke of Albemarle which Act was pass'd in the Reign of King Charles the Second some Lands Tenements and Hereditaments in this Kingdom which on the two and twentieth Day of October one thousand six hundred forty one belonged to some ancient Proprietor or Proprietors who were dispossessed thereof by the late usurped Powers were secured and assured unto the said George Duke of Albemarle by means whereof the ancient Proprietors of the said Lands may be barred and deprived of their ancient Estates unless the said Act be repealed though such ancient Proprietor or Proprietors be as justly intituled to Restitution as other ancient Proprietors who were dispossessed by the said Usurper and barred by the late Acts of Settlement and Explanation Be it therefore enacted That the said Act for securing of several Lands Tenements and Hereditaments to George Duke of Albemarle be and is hereby repealed to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever And that the Proprietors of the said Lands and their Heirs and Assignes be restored to their said ancient Estates in the same manner with the said other ancient Proprietors their Heirs and Assignes And whereas several ancient Proprietors whose Estates were seized and vested in Persons deriving a Title under the said Acts of Settlement or Explanation have in some time after the passing of the said Acts purchased their own ancient Estates or part thereof from the Persons who held the same under the said Acts as aforesaid which old Proprietors would now be restored to their said ancient Estates if they had not purchased the same And for as much as the said ancient Proprietors or their Heirs should receive no Benefit of the said Act of Repeal should they not be reprized for the Money paid by them for their said ancient Estates Be it therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all and every the ancient Proprietor or Proprietors or their Heirs who have laid out any Sum or Sums of Money for the Purchase of their own ancient Estates or any part thereof as aforesaid shall receive out of the common Stock of Reprizals a sufficient Recompence and Satisfaction for the Money laid out or paid by him or them for the Purchase of their said ancient Estate at the Rate of ten Years Purchase any Clause Act or Statute to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And for the Prevention of all unnecessary Delays and unjust Charges which can or may happen to the Subjects of this Realm before their full and final Settlement Be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That where the Commissioners for Execution of the said Act of Repeal or any three or more of them shall give any Certificate under his and their Hands and Seals to any Person or Persons Bodies Politick or Corporate in order to the passing of any Letters Patents according to the said Act and shall likewise return a Duplicate of such Certificate into his Majesties Court of Exchequer at Dublin to be there enrolled and the Person and Persons
same any thing in this or the said Act of Repeal to the contrary notwithstanding And it is further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all Letters Patents hereafter to be granted of any Offices or Lands whatsoever shall contain in the same Letters Patents a Clause requiring and compelling the said Patentees to cause the said Letters Patents to be enrolled in the Chancery of Ireland within a time therein to be limited and all Letters Patents wherein such Clause shall be omitted are hereby declared to be utterly void and of none effect Provided always that if your sacred Majesty at any time before the first Day of November next by Letters Patents under the Broad Seal of England if reâ—â—ding there or by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of Ireland during your Majesties abode here shall grant your gracious Pardon or Pardons to any one or more of the Persons herein before mentioned or intended to be attainted who shall return to their Duty and Loyalty that then and in such case such Person and Persons so pardoned shall be and is hereby excepted out of this present Act as if they had never been therein named or thereby intended to be attainted and shall be and are hereby acquitted and discharged from all Attainders Penalties and Forfeitures created or inflicted by this Act or the said Act of Repeal excepting such Share or Proportion of their real or personal Estate as your Majesty shall think fit to except or reserve from them any thing in this present Act or in the said Act of Repeal contained to the contrary notwithstanding Provided always that every such Pardon and Pardons be pursuant to a Warrant under your Majesties Privy Signet and Sign manual and that no one Letters Patents of Pardon shall contain above one Person and that all and every such Letters Patents of Pardon and Pardons shall be enrolled in the Rolls Office of your Majesties High Court of Chancery in this Kingdom at or before the last Day of the said Month of November or in Default thereof to be absolutely void and of none Effect any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding Provided likewise that if any Person or Persons so pardoned shall at any time after the Date of the said Pardon join with or aid or assist any of your Majesties Enemies or with any Rebels in any of your Majesties Dominions and be thereof convict or attainted by any due Course of Law that then and in such Case they shall forfeit all the Benefit and Advantage of such Pardon and shall be again subject and liable to all the Penalties and Forfeitures inflicted on them and every of them by this or the said Act of Repeal as if such Pardon or Pardons had never been granted Provided always that nothing in this Act contained shall extend or be construed to extend to or vest in your Majesty any Lands Tenements or Hereditaments or other Interest of any ancient Proprietor who by the said Act of Repeal is to be restored to his ancient Estate but that all such Person and Persons and all their Right Title and Interest are and shall be saved and preserved according to the true Intent and Meaning of the said Act any thing in these Presents to the contrary notwithstanding Copia vera Richard Darling Cleric in Offic. M ri Rot. The Perswasions and Suggestions the Irish Catholicks make to his Majesty Supposed to be drawn up by Talbot titular Arch-bishop of Dublin and found in Col. Talbot's House July 1. 1671. 1. THAT the Rebellion in Anno 1641. was the Act of a few and out of fear of what was doing in England That they were provoked and driven to it by the English to get their Forfeitures That they were often willing to submit to the King and did it effectually Anno 1648 and held up his Interest against the Usurper who had murdered his Father till 1653. After which time they served his Majesty in Foreign Parts till his Restauration 2. That they acquiesce in his Majesty's Declaration of Novemb. 30. 1660. And are willing that the Adventurers and Souldiers should have what is therein promised them but what they and others have more may be resumed and disposed of as by the Declaration 3. They desire for what Lands intended to be restored them shall be continued to the Adventurers and Souldiers that they may have a Compensation in Money out of his Majesty's new Revenues of Quit-Rents payable by the Adventurers and Souldiers The Hearth Money and Excise being such Branches as were not in 1641 and hope that the one will ballance the other 4. They say That his Majesty has now no more need of an Army than before 1641 That the remainder of his Revenue will maintain now as well as then what Forces are necessary 5. They desire to be restored to Habitations and Freedom within Corporations 1. That the General Trade may advance 2. That Garisons and Cittadels may become useless 3. That they may serve his Majesty in Parliament for bettering his Revenue and crushing and securing the Seditious in all Places 6. They desire to be Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace c. for the Ends and Purposes aforesaid and to have the Power of the Civil and Ordinary Militia 7. They also desire to be form'd into a Militia and to be admitted to be of the standing Army 8. That their Religion is consonant to Monarchy and implicit Obedience That they themselves have actually serv'd his Majesty in Difficulties That they have no other way to advantage themselves than by a strict adherence to the King That they have no other Refuge whereas many of his Majesty's Subjects do lean hard another way 9. That the Roman Catholicks are six to one of all others that of the said one to six some are Atheists and Neuters who will profess the Roman Catholick Religion others devoutly given will affect the same course that the rest may have their Liberty of Conscience and may be corrected in case they abuse it 10. That the Roman Catholicks having the full Power of the Nation they can at all times spare his Majesty an Army of Sixty thousand Men there being Twelve hundred thousand Souls in Ireland and so consequently an Hundred and fifty thousand between sixteen and sixty Years old Which Forces if allowed to Trade shall have Shipping to transport themselves when his Majesty pleaseth 11. That they have a good Correspondence abroad for that great numbers of their Nation are Souldiers Priests and Merchants in esteem with several great Princes and their Ministers 12. That the Toleration of the Roman Catholicks in England being granted and the Insolence of the Hollanders taken down a Confederacy with France which can influence England as Scotland can also will together by God's Blessing make his Majesty's Monarchy Absolute and Real 13. That if any of the Irish cannot have their Lands in specie but Money in lieu as aforesaid some of them may transport themselves into America possibly
near New-England to check the growing Independents of that Country 14. That the next Parliament being formed as aforesaid great Sums of Money will be given his Majesty Query Whether the Roman Catholick Clergy may not be admitted into the House of Peers this next Parliament or stay a little 15. That for effecting the Premises 't is better his Majesty should govern Ireland by a Committee of such of his Privy Council as approved the Conjunction with France and as are not concern'd in Ireland rather than by the Council of Ireland 16. Let such a Lord Lieutenant be in Ireland who in Inclination and for fear of being displaced will begin this Work of laying the Foundation of his Majesty's Monarchy and hazard his Concernments upon that account 17. That the Army be gradually reform'd and opportunity taken to displace Men not affected to this Settlement and to put into the Army or Garisons in Ireland some fit Persons to begin this Work and likewise Judges upon the Benches 18. Query What Precedents may be found to break the several Farms and to be Master of the Exchequer and pole the Gains of the Bankers Brewers and Farmers 1. Whether the paying of a Fine or Income upon all Grants of Charters Officers and Commanders may not bind and fasten the Grant Duty and Allegiance as with Silver Chains more firmly to the King's Government 2. Whether any Grants may be presumed to be new obtained without paying a great Value at least to some great Officer or Courtier for procuring the same 3. Whether it be not â—â—â—sonable a Year's Value be paid as a grateful Acknowledgment to the Prince's Bounty upon Temporal Grants as First Fruits from Spiritual 4. Whether to reserve such Grants to the immediate dispose of the King be not the Interest of the Crown and a Means to create a closer adherence to the Person of the Prince and so make Monarchy more Absolute and Real instead of factious Dependences on great Men who are often acted more by Self-interest than the Advantage of their Master 5. Whether a considerable Revenue may not be raised to the Crown that if such Courtiers received it upon procuring Grants it were paid to the Private or Privy-Purse 6. Whether the Subject would not more chearfully pay a Years Value or two to the Prince upon passing Grants than to be liable to the unreasonable Exaction of hungry Courtiers who sometimes make a Prey both of the Subject and the Prince's Favour 7. Whether many worthy and deserving Men have not been put by and denied the benefit of his Majesty's Grant by false Insinuation for not gratifying some such viperous Officers 8. Whether his Majesty might not expect to have a fitter Person recommended when there is no Advantage to be made by their Recommendations than when Offices are canted by Courtiers and such only recommended as will give most but the least fit 9. Whether if by the Silver Key Men chance to get admittance into Offices the Prince may not make Advantage by their Misbehaviour since by losing both their Mony and Employment the King will not only get a Fine and better Servants but also gratify the People by displacing an ill One. A Copy of a Letter of the Irish Clergy to King James in favour of the Earl of Tyrconnel Found amongst Bishop Tyrrell's Papers in Dublin SIR SInce it has pleased the Almighty Providence by placing your Majesty in the Throne of your Ancestors to give you both Authority and Occasion of exercising those Royal Vertues which alone do merit and would acquire you the Crown to which you were born We though comprehended in the general Clemency and Indulgence which you extend to the rest of our fellow Subjects are nevertheless so remote from your Majesty's Presence that our Prayers can have no access to you but by a Mediator And since of all others the Earl of Tyrconnel did first espouse and chiefly maintain these Twenty five Years last past the Cause of your poor oppressed Roman Catholick Clergy against our many and powerful Adversaries and is now the only Subject of your Majesty under whose Fortitude and Popularity in this Kingdom we dare chearfully and with assurance own our Loyalty and assert your Majesty's Interest Do make it our humble Suit to your Majesty that you will be pleased to lodg your Authority over us in his Hands to the Terror of the Factious and Encouragement of your faithful Subjects here since his Dependence on your Majesty is so great that we doubt not but that they will receive him with such Acclamations as the long captivated Israelites did their Redeemer Mordecai And since your Majesty in Glory and Power does equal the mighty Ahashuerus and the Vertue and Beauty of your Queen is as true a Parallel to his adored Hester We humbly beseech she may be heard as our great Patroness against that Haman whose Pride and Ambition of being honour'd as his Master may have hitherto kept us in Slavery And tho we wish none the fate of so dreadful an Example but rather a timely Penitence and Conversion we yet humbly crave your Majesty's Protection against all such if it may consist with your Royal Wisdom and Pleasure to which we with all humility submit in the establishing of the â—aâ—d Earl of Tyrconnel in such Authority here as may secure us in the exercise of our Function to the Honour of God and offering up our Prayers and Sacrifice for the continuation of your Majesty's long and prosperous Reign over us Dublin the of July 1685. Your Majesty's most dutiful and obedient Subjects The Copy of a Letter sent the King August 14. 1686. Found in Bishop Tirrel's Papers but imperfect May it please your Majesty I Humbly beg of you for God's sake and your own to read what I here presume to write not but that I know it may well be thought an inexcusable piece of Presumption in any Subject to say or write any thing that may look like prescribing to a King especially a King that from his own knowledg and the best Mother of it long Experience must with universal consent be allowed the most competent Judg in his Dominions of what ought or ought not to be done Yet inasmuch as your present Counsellors are for the most part divided from you by the unhappy difference in Religion I hope your Majesty will pardon a loyal Plain-dealer for presuming to offer his well-meaning Opinion of the present Posture of Affairs Sir As I am one that makes it my Business to study your Interest I took the liberty of telling you in former Letters That in order to replant Religion in your Dominions you ought to begin with Ireland where the Work is more than half done to your Hand and where your Prerogative allows you to do with that Kingdom as you please for it was not to be expected that England and Scotland so irreconcileable to Popery would consent to take off the Penal Laws by a Parliament if not aw'd by a
the Lord Deputy and Roman Catholick Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom who are universally concerned in the present Army and in that which is to be raised will upon the first signification of his Majesty's Pleasure to that purpose unanimously Disband retire to their several Dwellings and apply themselves to advance the Quiet and Wealth of the Kingdom Nor can I ever doubt his Majesty's Condescention and Care for the Preservation of this His Kingdom and preventing the Effusion of Christian Blood For most assuredly if War should happen here which God of his Infinite Mercy prevent His Majesty would be the only great Sufferer in the Loss of so many Subjects Lives wherein consists the Wealth and Strength of the greatest Monarchs There are very many now at London who know the State and Condition of this Kingdom much better than I pretend to what I now write I design not as a Secret but if you think it worth Consideration I leave it to you to Communicate it to such as you shall think fit And if there be any thing in it worthy their Thoughts I must declare that there is nothing within the reach of my Industry that I will not endeavour in the method of my Profession for the maintenance of Religion and Property as established by the Laws of this Kingdom and should die with the greatest satisfaction and reckon it a Nobler Posterity than any Man can pride himself in if I could be in the least Instrumental in the setling Peace and Quiet without more hazard or Loss to this my Native Country which I make no doubt the Almighty will in his good Time effect by his own Means and Instruments more deserving of so great a Blessing from him than I am If this find any Room with your self other thinking Men or such who have great Stakes here let me know your Thoughts with what convenient speed you can it being a matter in which a moment is not to be lost and the first Step to be made there since it cannot be expected that the Lord Deputy will do any thing in a matter of so great Moment without His Majesty's Directions N o 15. Proposals humbly offered to the Earl of Tyrconnell Lord Deputy by the Bishop of Meath about the intended Search for Arms. WHEREAS Your Excellency hath ordered by Your Declaration That a Search shall be made in every House in Dublin for Arms and Ammunition and that in Case any shall be found upon Search that the Persons with whom they are found shall be left to the Mercy of the Soldiers This Penalty is thought unreasonable on these following Accounts First Because it is not determin'd by the Declaration who shall be the Searchers for if the matter be manag'd as hitherto it hath been that every one who pretends to be a Soldier must have liberty to search and in such Numbers and as often as they please no House can be safe for that some have been already searched by Six Companies after one another and that in the same Day And if any of these should pretend to find a Pistol or Bagonet or Horn of Powder though he brought it out of his Pocket with a design to draw an inconvenience on the House yet by the Declaration the House and all that is in it must be left to the Mercy of the Soldiers and by this means the Innocent may suffer as well as the Guilty Secondly That if the Soldiers be permitted to search there will be so much Damage by it to this City that an Age cannot Repair it For by this means every Place that is capable of concealing Arms must be left to their Discretion the Boards will be rip'd up partition Walls broken down Wainscot taken down Cellars digg'd up the Foundations of Houses endanger'd Barrels of Beer open'd Provocations offer'd and received the Safety of the People in apparent hazard many things taken away without hopes of Restitution the Looms of Tradesmen and the Instruments of Artificers destroyed and his Majesty's Interest dis-served after all by the Soldiers endeavouring rather to serve their own Ends than his Majesty's true Interest Thirdly In many Houses there are several Families Lodgers and Servants of several Sorts and if any of these either out of Malice or Folly or good Will to their Masters conceal any Arms though never so inconsiderable all the rest though Innocent must suffer for it which is against Equity and Justice that requires every Man to suffer only for his own Fault and not for the Fault of others Fourthly Many have had Lodgers in their Houses for several Years whose Truncks and Papers are still there and possibly Arms may be in them which the House-keeper knows nothing of It is therefore Unreasonable That either the Owners of such Goods being absent or the Masters of the House that know nothing of it should suffer for what they cannot help By this means Papers may miscarry and the Estates of Men be ruin'd and undone Fifthly Many Landlords Owners of Houses are either gone for England or absent elsewhere about their lawful Occasions and their Servants may either not know where their Arms are or foolishly endeavour to conceal them and so expose their innocent Masters to Ruine Sixthly The leaving Persons to the Mercy of the Soldiers is a Punishment so unknown to our Laws and so strange to these Kingdoms that the Execution of it will be agreat prejudice to his Majesty's Affairs and alienate the Hearts of his Subjects more from him and do him whose Presence they expect more mischief than the Arms can do him good It is an ill President and may in time destroy the whole Kingdom and subvert the Law It is therefore humbly proposed That in case your Excellency be not satisfied with the Returns already made and to be made but you will still go on with the Search that your Excellency would graciously condescend to these following Expedients for the better Ease and Quiet of his Majesty's Subjects First That whereas each Parish is divided into its several Wards that your Excellency would order the Search to be made by the Deputy Alderman of each Ward with the Assistance of One or more Military Officers as your Excellency shall think fit and not by the Soldiers for by this means what Arms are found will be secured for his Majesty's Use and the Subject freed from the fears of Plunder and Ruine The Search intended is so provided for to be by an Alderman and an Officer Secondly That no Man be responsible for more than his own Goods nor the Punishment inflicted on any but the Guilty His Excellency consents to this Thirdly That regard be had to the Goods and Papers of all Persons that be absent and who by reason of their Absence before the Declaration was published cannot be presumed to be Violaters of it His Excellency consents to this Fourthly That a Declaration be published to this purpose for informing the People of your Excellency's Intentions which will contribute
at once inriched and civilized it would hardly be believed it were the same Spot of Earth Nay Over-flown and Moorish Grounds were reduced to the bettering of the Soyl and Air. The Purchasers who brought the Kingdom to this flourishing Condition fly to your Majesty for Succour offering not only their Estates and Fortunes but even their Lives to any Legal Trial within this your Majesties Kingdom being ready to submit their Persons and Estates to any established Judicature where if it shall be found that they enjoy any thing without Legal Title or done any thing that may forfeit what they have Purchased they will sit down and most willingly acquiesce in the Judgments But to have their Purchases made void their Lands and Improvements taken from them their Securities and Assurances for Money Lent declar'd Null and Void by a Law made ex post facto is what was never practised in any Kingdom or Countrey If the Bill now design'd to be made a Law had been attempted within two three four or five years after the Court for the execution of these Acts was ended the Purchasers would not have laid out their Estates in acquiring of Lands or in Building or Improving on them Thousands who had sold small Estates and Free-holds in England and brought the Price of them to Purchase or Plant here wou'd have stayed at home And your Majesties Revenue with that of the Nobility and Gentry had never come to the Height it did If your Majesty please to consider upon what Grounds and Assurances the Purchasers of Lands and Tenements in this Kingdom proceed you will soon conclude that never any proceeded upon securer Grounds The Acts of xvij and xviij of King Charles your Father of blessed Memory the First takes notice that there was a Rebellion begun in this Kingdom on the 23d of October 1641 And so doth a Bill once read in the House of Lords whoever looks into the Royal Martyrs Discourse upon that Occasion will see with what an abhorrence he laments it and that he had once thoughts of coming over in Person to suppress it Those Acts promise Satisfaction out of Forfeited Lands to such as would advance Money for reducing these disturbers of the publick Peace unto their Duty The Invitation was his late Majesties your Royal Brothers Letters from Breda some few weeks before his Restauration which hapned the 29th of May 1660 And within six Months after came forth his Majesties most Gracious Declaration for the Settlement of this Kingdom This may it please your Majesty is the Basis and Foundation of the Settlement and was some years after Enacted and made a Law by two several Acts of Parliament It is true that the Usurping Powers in the Year 1653. having by the permission of the Almighty as a just Judgment on us for our Sins prevailed here did dispose and set out the Estates of Catholicks unto Adventurers and Soldiers and in a year or two after transplanted out Catholick Free-holders for no other Reason but their being so in Connought where Lands were set out unto them under divers Qualifications which they and their Heirs or those deriving under them as Purchasers enjoy'd and still do enjoy under the Security of the before mentioned Acts of Parliament and Declaration His Majesties gracious Declaration of the 30th of November 1660. which I call the Foundation of the Settlement was before it was concluded on under the Consideration of that great Prince and the Lords of his Council of England where all Persons concerned for the Proprietors as well old as new were heard whoever reads will find the many Difficulties which he and his Council met with from the different and several Pretenders what Consideration was had and Care taken to reconcile the jarring Interests and to accommodate and settle as well as was possible the Mass and Body of Subjects here It was some years after before the Act for the Execution of his Majesties most Gracious Declaration became a Law It was neer two years upon the Anvil It was not a Law that past in few days or sub silentio It was first according to the then Course of passing Laws here framed by the Chief Governour and Council of this Kingdom by the Advice and with the Assistance of all the Judges and of his Majesties Council Learned in the Law and then transmitted into England to be further consider'd of by his Majesty and Lords of his Council there where the Counsel at Law and Agents of all Pretenders to the Propriety of Lands in this Kingdom were heard and that Act commonly called the Act of Settlement approved of and retransmitted under the Seal of England to receive the Royal Assent which it did after having passed both Houses of Parliament The Innocent Proprietors being restored pursuant to thiâ— Act and some Difficulties appearing as to the further execution of it Another Act passed commonly called the Act of Explanation which went the same Course and under the same Scrutiny It is confessed that though they are two Acts it was by the same Parliament who were chosen according to the ancient Course of Chusing Parliaments But if any miscarriage were in bringing that Parliament together or the procuring the aforesaid Acts of Parliament to pass which we can in no wise admit and the less for that your Majesties Revenue was granted and settled by the same Parliament and many good and wholsom Laws therein Enacted Yet it is manifest that nothing of that kind ought to affect the Plain and honest Purchaser who for great and valuable Considerations acquired Lands under the Security aforesaid and expended the remainder of his Means in Building Improving and Planting on them and that for the following Reasons First The Purchaser advising with his Counsel how to lay out or secure his Money that it may not lie dead not only to his but the publick detriment tells him that he is offer'd a Purchase of Lands in Fee or desired by his Neighbours to accommodate him with Money upon the Security of Judgment or Statute Staple and upon the enquiry into the Title he finds a good and Secure Estate as firm in Law as two Acts of Parliament in force in this Kingdom can make it and in many Cases Letters Patents upon a Commission of Grace for remedying of defective Titles he finds Possession both of many years gone along with this Title several descents past and possibly that the Lands have been purchased and passed through the hands of divers Purchasers He resorts to the Records where he meets with Fines and Common Recoveries the great Assurance known to the Laws of England Under which by the Blessing of God we live and tells him there is no scruple nor difficulty of Purchasing under this Title since he hath Security under two Acts of Parliament Certificates and Letters Patents Fines and Recoveries and that no Law of force in this Kingdom can stir much less shake this Title How is it possible to imagine that the